Cursed
by PaintingFlames
Summary: Immortality; gift or curse?


**A/N: So I decided to write a little one-shot on Thalia's feelings about being immortal. Enjoy!**

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**Cursed**

Thalia opened the door to Cabin One at Camp Half-Blood. The Hunters were currently visiting the camp for Greek demigods. They were all in Cabin Eight right now, but the daughter of Zeus had wanted to visit her old cabin.

About fifty years had passed since Thalia first became a Hunter. Percy and Jason had led the battle against Gaia, and they had won. Now her friends were living peacefully in New Rome. Percy and Annabeth had grown old, and they had two children; one boy and one girl. Jason had a family as well. Her little brother was married to his former fellow Praetor, Reyna. They had a son, one who looked a lot like Jason.

And Thalia? She was still the 15-year-old Lieutenant of Artemis. Thalia ran her hand along the wall of her old cabin, stopping when she reached her old alcove in the cabin. Now it belonged to another demigod. Her half-sister or brother, she supposed. Ever since the Second Titan War ended, Thalia's father had had a lot of demigod children. Thank gods that there wasn't any of her siblings here right now. She needed to be alone.

Thalia sat on her favorite spot in the whole cabin, she hoped that the owner of this spot wouldn't mind that she was there. The Lieutenant of Artemis dug into her pocket and pulled out a photo of her, Jason and Percy. Thalia remembered that Annabeth had taken that picture when the Greeks arrived at the Roman camp. She smiled, remembering that Annabeth had forced her to smile for the camera. She reached into her other pocket, and found another picture of her, Annabeth and Luke from back when she was still on the run with them. A tear dropped onto the picture.

The daughter of Zeus blinked, trying to keep herself from crying. She smiled sadly as she wiped the tearstains on her face. It was a pain to remember all this. It was a pain to remember those happy times. To remember the times when Luke was still alive and well. When he was still her friend. It had hurt her when she knew that Luke had betrayed them. She remembered that she didn't take in the news well. Percy had to come and find her to calm her down.

It was also a pain to watch her friends grow up. She knew that sooner or later, they'd die. And she'd be there, watching them die because of old age. The most painful thing was that she wasn't going to age. Immortality is a curse. Thalia knew that. She knew it since the moment she decided that she wanted to become a Hunter of Artemis. She knew the consequences. Sometimes Thalia regretted becoming a Hunter. But she knew that this was her destiny. She wasn't the one meant for the old Great Prophecy, that was Percy.

Another tear dropped from Thalia's face. She leaned back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. She blinked twice, desperately trying to stop the tears from coming. It was horrible, being at this camp. It held so many memories. And she wasn't here with her friends or her brother. She hated that.

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"Hey, are you okay?" Thalia heard a voice asked. She looked up and found a boy with electric blue eyes and blond hair who looked about her age staring at her curiously. The owner of the alcove now, she guessed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the Hunter answered, wiping away the tears.

The boy frowned, "Were you crying?"

Thalia looked down, staring at the pictures in her hand. She didn't answer the boy's question.

"You know what, never mind," the boy said, and Thalia was grateful that he finally realized that she wasn't going to answer his question. "You're the leader of the Hunters, right? I'm Adrian, a son of Zeus."

The black-haired girl nodded, "Yes, that's me. The Lieutenant of Artemis. I'm Thalia, a child of Zeus as well."

"Are you?" Adrian slowly grinned at her. Thalia realized that he looked a lot like Jason, especially when he was smiling. "No wonder you're here. I thought you were trespassing or something."

"I wouldn't do such thing. Every one knows that you don't mess with Zeus kids," Thalia cracked a smile, despite her mood.

"That's right!" Adrian held up a fist to fist-pump Thalia. She knocked her fist with his, her smile growing slightly.

"You know, you remind me of my brother," she told Adrian. "Ever heard of Jason Grace?"

"Of course I have. I've heard about both of you, the famous Graces. Thalia, the Greek and Jason, the Roman. You, Percy Jackson and the rest of them helped save the world, didn't you?" Adrian replied.

"Oh no, I only played a small part. Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Frank, Hazel and Piper did most of the saving," Thalia chuckled as she remembered her friends' little adventure.

"Sure you did," the blond boy teased. "No child of Zeus plays a small part, Thalia. You better be lying or modest, because I don't want to know of a child of Zeus who played a small part in saving the world."

The Hunter snorted, "Don't you know the story? If you do, then you'll know how big my part was. If you don't, well, go figure it out. I don't feel like retelling the story."

Retelling the story of the war brought back a lot of memories for Thalia. Memories of meeting Jason, memories of helping Percy and Annabeth and the rest of the team save the world, memories of people that she knew dying. She didn't want to remember. Not only because of the tough times that they faced, but also because she didn't want to miss those days again. She didn't want to cry, especially not in front of someone.

Adrian simply shrugged and sat down beside Thalia. "So, what were you doing here?" he asked her.

"Me? Oh, I was just wandering around the camp and I decided that I wanted to visit my old cabin," Thalia replied. "It's been a long time since I visited this place."

"Right, the Hunters are barely here, after all. But what I meant was, what are you doing here, in my spot?" Adrian asked again.

A small smirk began to form on Thalia's lips, "So I was right. This is your spot. It used to be mine. About fifty years ago."

"Fifty years ago, huh?" Thalia noticed Adrian looking down at the pictures that she held in her hand as he asked. "Before you joined the Hunt, right?"

Thalia nodded as she followed her half-brother's gaze towards the pictures. The Hunter was sure that he was smart enough to figure out that these pictures were taken about fifty years ago. He probably knew that 'fifty years ago' was also a memorable time for Thalia. Those years before she joined the Hunt were definitely the highlight of her life. It was the time before Thalia had to stay forever young. Before she knew that she would never grow up. Before she was immortal.

"I wasn't immortal yet. Fifty years ago. I was still like you, just an average demigod. Okay, maybe not an average one. Being a child of one of the Big Three and all. But I was still...normal," Thalia suddenly said, recalling all the memories. "Well, as normal as a demigod can get."

Adrian glanced sideways at her, his eyebrows raised. He stayed silent, waiting for the Lieutenant of Artemis to continue on. He knew better than to ask questions, it seemed to be a sensitive topic to Thalia. So he just sat there, watching Thalia's hands fiddling with the pictures as she talked.

"I was fifteen," the black-haired girl started. "And I had dreams of growing up. I never even once thought about becoming a Hunter. I didn't want to be immortal. I wanted to grow up with my friends, to have a family. To live a normal life."

As she ranted on, Thalia's voice slowly cracked. The little smirk on her face had disappeared. Her face was serious now. Her eyes began to water. Thalia took a deep breath, trying to keep herself composed. No, she couldn't cry in front of Adrian. _I must not cry,_ she thought. _Don't cry, Thalia_. Repeating the thoughts over and over again in her head, Thalia tried to keep the tears from spilling.

Adrian was clearly still waiting for her to say more, to explain her thoughts. But Thalia wasn't in the mood to elaborate. She didn't want to continue on. It was best for her to stay silent if she wanted to keep the tears from streaming down her face. She leaned her head against the wall, biting her lip so that she wouldn't start cry again. She could see Adrian staring at her in concern.

"I'm fine," Thalia muttered, almost as if she was trying to convince herself. Her half-brother raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't argue. The two were stayed silent. After a moment of total silence, Adrian hesitantly put his arm around his sister's shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay," he said, giving Thalia a little smile.

Thalia glanced sideways at Adrian. She slowly returned his smile. She hadn't asked this boy to listen to her, and he had the choice to walk away. Instead, he had stayed here and comforted her.

He reminded her of Jason way too much. Jason, who was always there for her. Jason, who would always listen to her. Jason, her one and only real brother.

But now Jason was all grown up. He had a family to worry about, he couldn't always come for Thalia whenever she needed him. Jason wasn't here right now. Not that she blamed him for not being here. She understood his reasons.

Thalia was sick of being immortal, though. She hated how she couldn't grow up with Jason. How she couldn't talk to her friends about her family, because the one that she had was different from theirs. Her family was the Hunters, a group of immortal girls, just like her. But none of them understood her. Because unlike Thalia, they wanted to be immortal.

She never wanted to be immortal, she never wanted to stay forever young. She had always wanted to grow up, to have a family. To grow old and die, not to watch her friends die because of old age.

On the other hand, her immortality had taught her a lot of things. She had gotten a lot smarter over the years, and she had had a lot of experiences (both good and bad). Thalia also got to meet new people that she cared about. Like her family, the Hunters of Artemis. Or her new siblings, like Adrian.

As she sat there in the arms of her newfound brother, Thalia realized that the more she thought about her immortality, the more confused she was with it. Thalia didn't know what to make of her immortality. It was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was a curse, but it was also a gift. _Yes,_ Thalia decided. _Immortality is both a curse and a gift._ A cursed gift.

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**And so that's it. Thalia's feelings on being immortal. I hope you like it. Please review!**

**- PaintingFlames**


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